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Khareem Oliver
Pet owners often think of their dogs and cats as their kids. So when Scruffy or Fluffy is lost, it can wreak havoc on owners’ lives. Khareem Oliver has seen this firsthand. For the past 10 years, he’s volunteered at animal-rescue organizations and noticed that many animals did not have identification that could be used…
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Lauren Seroyer
Lauren Seroyer was eating a quick breakfast at school when she was inspired to start her nonprofit organization. A classmate approached her for some of her meal because he didn’t have enough to eat at home. “I knew I had to do something to keep him—and other students like him—from ever having to tell that…
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Shemar Coombs
Shemar Coombs wants to add a few minutes to your day. After getting tired of untangling his headphones, he decided to figure out how to solve the problem. Enter Rap-It-Up, Shemar’s solution to making sure you never have to wrestle with another knot in your earbuds. Rap-It-Up is a 3D-printed phone case that keeps your…
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Dejah Powell
Dejah Powell is doing everything she can to green up the South Side of Chicago. As a kid, Dejah didn’t know the meaning of “environmental justice.” So, now, with her nonprofit organization Get Them to the Green, she’s helping young people build community gardens and educating them on the importance of the environment. CATEGORY: Green…
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Haile Thomas
There aren’t many kids who can say they’ve met first lady Michelle Obama once—let alone multiple times. For teen chef Haile Thomas, meeting Obama has only empowered her quest to inspire kids to live healthy lifestyles. “Getting to interact with her several times over the years sometimes still feels unreal, and I am eternally grateful…
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Nicodemus Madehdou
Nicodemus Madehdou isn’t just a lover of video games. He’s obsessed with creating them, too. He co-founded Jumpbutton Studio in 2009—when he was still in middle school, no less—and brought on developers and designers from all over the world to create video games. Currently, his team is hoping to launch a mobile app called ME.mory,…
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Grace Dolan-Sandrino
At 16, Grace Dolan-Sandrino is already leading the charge among young people in resisting Donald Trump’s agenda. In November, she and thousands of other students in Washington, D.C., walked out of their classrooms to protest the then-president elect. “We are trying to get our voices heard,” she said. “We were not able to vote. We…
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Clifton Kinnie
Clifton Kinnie wasn’t planning to be an activist. It wasn’t until he saw a picture of slain teen Michael Brown on his Twitter timeline that he decided he had to make a change in his St. Louis community—and beyond. “It was a time in which it truly radicalized me in a way in which I…
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A’Dorian Murray-Thomas
A’Dorian Murray-Thomas has used her own experience with tragedy to help other young girls triumph over hard times. When she was 7 years old, her father was killed in a robbery in her hometown of Newark, N.J. Because she had a community of people around her pushing her to be her best self despite her…
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Zendaya
Whether singing, acting or clapping back on Twitter, Zendaya always finds a way to use her voice for good. “I have a billion dreams, and I want to use my platform to help people,” she told Vanity Fair. “I’ve been given this power and I have to start conversations that are bigger than myself.” CATEGORY:…
